Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Editor’s note: Grantland hockey writer Sean McIndoe called in sick, so his scheduled post recapping the 2014-15 NHL season has instead been written by a guest contributor: the guy who does the “Goofs” pages on IMDb.

NHL Season (2014-15): Goofs

Errors in geography: At a press conference, league officials announce they’re thrilled with the progress of the ongoing season-ticket drive and are confident it will result in an expansion team being placed in a viable long-term hockey market. However, when the camera pulls back, they are standing in Las Vegas.

Unsynchronized audiovisual: Throughout the season, every time Sabres GM Tim Murray can be heard to say “Oh no, we lost again, now we’re in last place, how terrible!” he is smiling and pumping his fist.

Continuity: In one scene, we meet a man who has just started a new job at the NHL head office after having been unemployed for several years. In the next scene, that same man is an active player who has just been traded to the Arizona Coyotes.

Anachronism: At one point early on, every other character is walking around with the mumps like it’s the freaking 1700s.

Revealing mistakes: In the scene in which Gary Bettman says that only the media is interested in knowing the details of player contracts and that fans just don’t care about that kind of stuff, you can see the strings that the league’s GMs pull on to make him talk.

Character error: For reasons that are never fully explained, the role of 19-year-old Panthers rookie Aaron Ekblad is played by a 45-year-old man.

Continuity: When Bob Murray is explaining that Ryan Kesler’s new $42 million contract makes sense because he is one of the most effective centers in the league, he should be much more woozy from the time travel that has apparently just brought him back from 2010.